Tropical Storm Ernesto Brings Tremendous Flooding Risk

By Dan DePodwin, Meteorologist

August 9, 2012; 4:35 AM ET

As Tropical Storm Ernesto continues to move westward, the weather will continue to be very stormy in central Mexico through today.

The storm made landfall around 11 PM EDT Tuesday along the southern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula as a category 1 hurricane with 85 mph. By early Wednesday morning, Ernesto was downgraded to a tropical storm but was pelting the Yucatan with 70 mph winds and torrential rainfall.

Ernesto has gathered a large field of moisture in the form of towering showers and thunderstorms, capable of unleashing a foot of rain in parts of central Mexico through the end of the week.

Rainfall rates of up to a couple of inches per hour can not only overwhelm streams and drainage systems, but lead to mudslides in hilly and mountainous areas inland of the coast.

Strong wind gusts, generally in the vicinity of severe thunderstorms wrapping around the large circulation of the storm also bring the risk of damaging wind gusts at a more local level. The severe thunderstorms can occur hundreds of miles away from the center of Ernesto.